VOL. I. — 12
The As.syrian Religion, too, is essentially the same as the Babylonian, with some modifications. When, for instance, on the so-called Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser II. (n.c. 859-825) mention is made of the following gods : Asur, Anu, Bel, Ea, Sin, Ramuian, Samas, Merodach, Nindar (or Ninib), Nergal, Nusku, Belit, and Istar, this list is identical with the Babylonian Pantheon (.see B.viiV- LO.MA), witli the exception of the god Asur, who heads the list, but is entirely wanting to the Babylonians. This A.sur, the chief god of Assyria, was originally only a differentiation of Aim, or the god of heaven. His name An-sar, which after- wards became Assar, Assur, Asur, ' Host of Heaven,' appears in the Bab. cosmogony, but plays in the Bab. religion a far less iinjiortant jiart. Probably on account of the similarity of sound between the name of the god and the name of the counti-y Assur (originally Asur, from the Sumerian A-usar ' water plain '), the originally more abstract god of heaven, Asur, was exalted to the highest place and became king of the gods. Special reverence was also paid to the storm god liamman. who in the most ancient times cannot be very clearly dis- tinguished from the god of the air, In-liUa or Bel. Assur and Ramnian, therefore, held a similar place in As.syria to Anu and Bel, who were the two chief divinities of the old Babylonians. Further, we find an Istar of Nineveh, an Istar of Arbela, and an Istar of Kitmur, the two former being goddesses of war, while the latter appears to be a goddess cif love ; and finally, two masculine divinities of hunting and war, Nindar (Nin-ib) and Nergal. Proper names, especially those of the kings, always servo as a test which enables us to determine the amount of favour meted out to the different divinities. Here we meet most frequently with Assur and Ramman (=Bel, cf. Kamman-nir3.ri, ' Kamman is my help,' with Bel-nirSri).
In the ca.se of the word Shalman-asarid (Shal- maneser), the name Shidmfln appears to be a cognomen of the god Nindar. The latter the As.syrians preferred to call AsharUI Il'ini, ' Prince of the gods.' 'i'he pronunciation Adar instead of Nind.ar (written Nin-ib) has no foundation to rest on.
While in Babylonia, the mother - country of Assyria, the priests were always more powerful than the kings, in Assyria the king himself was also chief priest, and upon him the priesthood was completely dependent. Primarily, however, the king of Assyria was a general. The army always played the chief rOle in Assyria. The king was also the chief judge. All his subjects might come direct to him with their petitions and suits, which were always decided with the strictest impartiality and in accordance with the provisions of tlie laws, to which the king himself always bowed. Hence disobedience and rebellion were severely imnished, as all the enemies of the king were regarded as rebels against Assyria as well. In tlie treatment of captives and ])risoners the Assyrians displayed an inhumanity which we rightly regard as revolting. The court, as the political power of the nation increased, became ever more and more magnificent.
In Architecture, again, the Assyrians seem, in course of time, to have surpassed their original teachers, the Babylonians. It is characteristic of the Assyrians, that far more magnificence and wealth were expended on the palaces than on the temples. For although the kings in their inscriji- tioiis never omit to lay due emphasis on the temples which they built, yet, as a matter of fact, the excavations (see below) have brought to liglit the remains of far more palaces than temples. The statues of the kings, like those of the gods, were made with great skill and care, but pre-eminence was reached by the Assyrian artists in bas-relief, with
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ASSYRIA
ASSYRIA
which the walls of the palaces were adorned. The older specimens are rather stiff and clumsy ; but the productions of the age of Sargon and Sennacherib show a very marked improvement, and the highest perfection was reached in the reign of Assurbanipal. The British Museum affords the best opiiortunity for admiring the war scenes, the triumphal prueessions, the jiictures of private life, and especially the realistic hunting pictures, which form the masterpieces of the Assyrian artist. But the impulse to this development of Assyrian art will probably have coi'ie from with- out. With the increasing growth of the Assyrian empire, immense treasures of merchaiulise and art poured into Nineveh and Kalakh (cf. Nah 2^) from the newly-conquered provinces ; and these imports ations stand in direct relation to the refinement that took place in the taste for art.
In Literature the Assyrians entirely followed Bab. models, a.s, to take a single illustration, the prayer of Assur-nazir-jjal II. (c. H.c. 1060) to the goddess Istar proves. In most cases they con- tented themselves with simply copying out Baby- lonian literature. But in this way they did us a greater service than if they had composed 100 or 1000 poetical imitations of a second-rate char- acter. For It is owing entirely to the activity of the Assyrians as collectors of books, and especially of Assurbanipal, the M:Bcenas of literature, that the bulk of Ball, literature has been preserved for us. In scientific literature too — astronomy, mathe- matics, medicine, grammar, lexicography — all alike were simply copies of Bab. originals. It was only in practical mechanics tliat the Assyrians advanced beyond their Bab. masters, as can be proved from the process they adopted for transporting the colossal images of bulls, as it is depicted on the ba,s-reliefs. In this connexion brief reference may also be made to the convex lenses found in Nimrond, used perhaps for the purpose of magni- fying the writing on the clay tablets, which was often very minute.